Nicky Kinnaird: Space woman
Founder and creative director of Space NK, Nicky Kinnaird tells Cathy Levy about her new stores in the States, her top favourite products and how she loves life in Kensington
Above: Nicky Kinnaird, photographed in Holland Park by Charlie Pinder
If there was one beauty product that Nicky Kinnaird would love to invent, she says, pondering it a moment, it would be “body lotion that shrinks you.
And elongates your limbs at the same time!” We laugh at the sheer preposterousness of it, while simultaneously having visions of perfect legs. At gorgeous Julie’s in Portland Road, the founder of wunder-emporium Space NK is proving to be an excellent advocate for her own business. Fresh-faced, tanned and happily relaxed, you’d have no idea she’s possibly one of the busiest, most pressured and in-demand women you‘re likely to meet.
Currently in the middle of three-day colour seminars to educate her several hundred staff on the beauty trends filtering down from the Fashion Week catwalks, she’s also launching nine new Space NK boutiques in Bloomingdale’s across America, running 58 stores in the UK, keeping abreast of new developments, latest products, and hopefully squeezing a life in there somewhere, too.
But Space NK is not simply an interesting business venture for Nicky Kinnaird, it’s the result of all her passions and life-long obsessions with shopping and beauty and grooming. “My hobby is innovation, I’m constantly out there looking at new ideas and what we can do to bring them to market,” she says, a healthy green tea in hand. And that’s why Space NK is such a great success.
It all started in 1993 when Nicky opened the first Space NK in Covent Garden. More a lifestyle boutique then, it sold niche and cult fashion and accessory brands from around the globe, as well as beauty. “I’ve always held the view that if someone’s interested in the latest fashions, then why wouldn’t they be interested in the latest beauty, because it’s just a natural extension of what comes from the catwalk,“ she says. As it so happened, the beauty overtook the fashion and that’s when Space NK really came into its own, steamrollered by Nicky’s retail love affair from way back when. “I’ve always been obsessed with finding the latest and greatest for my own personal consumption, even as a kid. We used to spend three months of the year in Spain, close to Valencia, and I was always obsessed with Spanish bathing and grooming habits, the citrus colognes, the great olive oil bars of soap. If I went missing on holiday, very often you’d find me in the local perfumery or pharmacy, from a very early age.”
As a child growing up in Belfast (“it could have been anywhere on the planet,” she says) Nicky had another obsession – sport. “Life revolved around school and sport. I played every sport that was going,” she recalls, aware it also helped nurture a spiritedly competitive nature. She still plays a great deal of tennis today. “The way we were as a family, we were always competing with each other on the tennis court and the whole sporting thing seems to have spread to business. I can remember with great embarrassment at a parents’ evening at school, my father had a property company that was actually his father’s prior, called Alexander Kinnaird and Son, and I proudly announced at the age of 10 that it was going to be, ‘and Daughter’. That got thrown back at me about six years later!” she laughs.
Fast forward to 2008, and having created the hugely successful business Space NK, with its reputation for discovering the very best innovative products on the market and presenting them in a highly knowledgeable way, the next breakthrough is set to be America. Striking a massive deal with Bloomingdale’s, Space NK is rolling out stores within nine of the department chain’s various locations, including the flagship 59th Street store in New York. “It’s exciting and scary at the same time,” says Nicky. “It’s like starting all over again. For the vast majority, we could have landed from Mars – it’s a new store, new concept, new world. But there’s been a great appreciation of, ‘you’ve done the legwork for me’, or ‘if I want to know what’s hot, come to Space NK.’”
This autumn, they’re also launching the NK Code, appearing on several new Space NK ranges, to illustrate where products are made without the use of ingredients that could be seen as potentially harmful, instead replaced with naturally derived alternatives.
“We noticed people are focusing more on ingredients, they’re more inquisitive, so the whole thinking behind the Code is clarity. But I won’t compromise on safety or stability in any shape or form. Sometimes the preservative solution is not strong enough and won’t keep the bugs at bay – that can be worse.”
As consumers who care more about what goes into the products, we’re also recognising the need to ‘de-stress’. “When time is so precious, people need to take time out for themselves, even it it’s only to have a relaxing soak in the bath for 20 minutes. If it makes you feel better why not do it? We’ve got a lot to learn from the Japanese who have deep, soaking tubs – the bath is all about relaxing in. I’m all up for that!” For someone who starts each day at 5.30am with a daily run or gym session at the Harbour Club, you can see why that’s important.
But after all that travelling and intensive schedules, home in Kensington is the best refuge, says Nicky. “It’s the only area I’ve ever lived in within London, I love it so much with all the specialty retailers, and I love Holland Park and Kensington Gardens. When you travel so much, it’s so nice on the weekend to not go outside of the neighbourhood. There are so many things you can walk to and do, like visit the Serpentine Gallery, or eat at our favourite local restaurant The Abingdon on Abingdon Road, and watch movies on Sunday afternoons at The Gate, or eat brunch in Patisserie Valerie. And we’re completely spoiled by Whole Foods, which is five minutes walk away. I also love Persephone Books on Kensington Church Street which is a great addition to the area.”
For now, it’s back to the colour seminars and an afternoon full of meetings, keeping all those balls up in the air. “If things are on an even keel always and everything is the same, I get bored very easily - like a caged lion, let me get out and shake things up a bit. Then, I’ll say what next!” The rest of us can book ourselves a lovely treatment at the Space NK Spa – it’s the least we can do.
For online shopping, Space NK and
Spa NK locations, visit www.spacenk.co.uk